10/22/2026
Children who lost one or both parents have already received more than 5,000 psychological consultations, as well as group therapy and art therapy. This is the result of the Fund’s 2023-2024 project supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Community Initiative, and now the work continues.
This initiative is led by EBRD staff and brings together EBRD employees, our international partners and the Fund around the long-term needs of children.
EBRD staff and our partners raised funds for the programmes, and the EBRD Community Initiative doubled them. The collaboration runs until May 2027 and covers two areas:
📚 A nine-month English language course for 315 children.
🎨 The “Svitlyachok” (Firefly) and “Strength Within You” psychological programmes, designed for children of different ages.
Together, these two areas of support address different but connected needs in children's development. The psychological programmes offer professional support through sessions with psychologists, art therapy, and group activities for children and their caregivers. English language classes help children develop skills for further learning and future opportunities.
🤝 This was made possible by the EBRD staff and our partners who joined and raised the funds: DataArt, Deloitte Ukraine, Ukreximbank, Finance in Motion, Ukrgazbank, Dentons Europe Foundation, Yves Barraquand, and other companies and individual donors. We are grateful to the EBRD Community Initiative for matching each contribution.
The project was spearheaded by Valeria Mykhalko from Children of Heroes and by Julia Rybakova from the EBRD side.
đź’› This is the first post in a series about the partnership. Next, we will look at how the programmes work in detail.